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Del Corral and Vesterby Take Lanzarote

Conditions as good as they can get at the world’s most challenging Ironman

by Kevin Mackinnon

Michelle Vesterby is the kind of athlete journalists love. Not only is she easy to look at, she’s got lots of spunk and personality, which was all-too-apparent at yesterday’s press conference. It makes for a combination of good pictures and great quotes. At one point it looked like Bella Bayliss’ jaw was going to drop right to the table when she heard the 28-year-old Dane tell the reporter-filled room that she "was going to be first out of the water and first off the bike" in today’s race. Then she "would see how things go on the run."

Things went just fine, thank you very much, as Vesterby lead today’s race from start to finish, running a solid 3:20 marathon to hold off Bayliss, who’s fastest marathon of the day (3:14) wasn’t enough to get her a third win here in Lanzarote. She might not have won, but a runner-up finish just nine months after giving birth is nothing to be ashamed of – Bayliss’ race today is a sign that she will once again be a force to reckon with on the Ironman front.

Bayliss had every right to be surprised about Vesterby’s pre-race prediction. Vesterby didn’t do her first Ironman until last November, when she finished fifth at Ironman Arizona. Earlier this year she finished 9th in the incredibly competitive Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship in Melbourne. An impressive swim/ biker, Vesterby managed to run fast enough today to hold off a strong, competitive field. Behind Bayliss was Heleen Bij de Vaate, who has finished second and third here in years past. Another woman who has been a runner-up here in Lanzarote in year’s past, Germany’s Nicole Woysch, ended up fourh pro (fifth overall).

Considered the toughest Ironman in the international global series, it’s not unusual to see some of the top age group athletes in the race finishing near the front – this is a course that rewards strength above speed thanks to an incredibly tough bike followed by a typically hot run course on hard pavement. Today was no exception as Belgium’s Veerle D´haese finished fourth overall to punch her ticket to Kona by also winning the women’s 30-34 age group.

Del Corral Dominates the Marathon

If you joined our coverage early in the day, it would have been hard to imagine anything other than British domination of this event. Leading the way out of the water was the UK’s Daniel Halksworth, who was closely followed by Philip Graves and Stephen Bayliss.

At yesterday’s press conference, while Vesterby was predicting she’d push the pace on the bike, Graves told us all he’d wouldn’t be pushing at the front – in contrast to his last appearance here in Lanzarote. After winning Ironman UK in 2009, then leading the Ironman World Championship for a time, Graves arrived here in Lanzarote and promptly hammered through the early stages of the bike. He rolled into T2 in front, but only barely, and only just made it to the first aid station before he called it a day.

Today Graves managed to hold himself back through the early stages of the ride, but couldn’t hold himself back and started to hammer once the course hit the first major climb into the Fire Mountains. From then on he simply pulled away, coming off the bike with a lead of just over 10 minutes on Del Corral. While the Spaniard’s impressive bike split was a surprise to many of us, those who have raced the Spaniard at races like the Alpe d’Huez Triathlon or at the European Cross Tri championships (he’s won both) were all-too-aware of his potential here.

"I was happy to have got to the top of Mirador del Rio ahead of Victor," Bayliss said after the race.

The Spaniard took off after race-leader Graves like a shot, running the first 10 km of the marathon at 2:35 pace. He didn’t need to go out that hard – Graves would call it a day by the half-way point, leaving Del Corral to run the day’s fastest marathon (2:50) and cruise to the win. Bayliss made it a husband and wife double with his runner-up finish, while Portugal’s Sergio Marques had a great run to put himself in third, ahead of two-time Lanzarote champ Bert Jammaer.

Great conditions, tough race

Despite the near-perfect conditions (for the first time in Ironman Lanzarote history 10 women broke six hours for this challenging bike course) the day managed to prove as challenging as ever as many of the competitors struggled through the hot conditions they found during the marathon.

Of course, that’s par for the course here in Lanzarote. Every year this event truly earns it’s reputation as the world’s toughest Ironman. They like to say that here in Lanzarote "Normal Limits Do Not Apply." With competitors like Michelle Vesterby, Bella and Stephen Bayliss and the very impressive Victor Del Corral, they’re right.